Struggles and Blessings

What struggles have you dealt with and blessings have you received during the cold, continuous weeks of winter’s wonder and weariness? Have you shared acts of kindness and love notes to warm hearts while guarding your own heart from the wiles of Satan?  Winter is a time when depression and despair can consume within hearts that wonder how to handle the hard times that stick like a deep freeze on frigid nights. Winter cannot be rushed; hard times cannot be skipped! Spring season shows up in His perfect timing with signs of renewal, revival, and rebirth.

A preacher shared this powerful lesson about skipping hard winters during a season when it seemed winter had set in forever and ever at my house. Finding the notes from his lesson in my journal as I settled to write this last winter story of 2020 was a sure sign to share it with you.

“A little boy met a fairy and she gave him a ball to ask for anything he wanted and it would happen.  The little boy asked to breeze by all the ‘winter’s hard times’ and he didn’t ever experience the tough times. However, he grew old and felt void.  He met the fairy again. She asked how he liked her gift to him.  He said he felt sad for he missed much of his life. She granted him a wish.  He wished he had never received the ball.  He was a little boy again. He was happy!”

Don’t rush through winters. Embrace and enjoy them while trusting and praising God for guidance through weary days.  He will take care of the hard times when we stay focused in faith through winter seasons and believe He will protect us while teaching lessons of love through hardships. Many things we endure will never be understood this side of glory and when we get to heaven… the grandeur and glory will dissolve woes we wondered about and worried over here.

For every hardship we work through in weary seasons, happiness can be waiting to bloom in wonderful seasons sent by the One who knows us by name…the Great I Am…the Shepherd who gently leads His sheep…the Father who knows every hair on each of His children’s heads and longs to bless us bountifully! Yet, we must believe and be in a place to receive and enjoy the gifts God sends in due season.  He is always right on time for what we need; His ways and thoughts are beyond our understanding.  His love is higher than the highest mountains and deeper than the seas.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit never fail or forsake you and me!

In a season of packing up things and moving to a new home with my son and his family, there were blessings to enjoy and burdens to bear.  When tasks at hand seemed monumental, I thought of my neighbor, Mrs. Turlington, who worked through the moving process with a peaceful countenance and precious spirit that inspired me to follow suite.

Closet by closet, cabinet by cabinet, and drawer by drawer, I sifted through tons of stuff, saved treasures, and took things to Sampson Partners. Determined to do packing and pruning myself gave time to go through things, recount seasons of blessings, and thank God for the memories.

Late one winter night, my tired body begged for rest but finishing the task of cleaning out baskets brought a blessing I could barely comprehend! One Longaberger basket, given to us by Jeff Swartz, held a treasure placed there by James.  Pulling a little booklet from the basket I had never seen sent my curiosity soaring. Opening the booklet titled “Love Notes for Mrs.”, I recognized white cards with loving messages and remembered finding them throughout our home during the two years we shared as Mr. and Mrs. James Vann. Loren Hawley gave the book of love notes to James as a wedding gift with instructions to surprise me with a love note often.  And James did! Once, I found a card on my bathroom mirror that said, “What a blessing to share life with you” and in James’ writing “I will love you forever and ever my wife and best friend and thank God for you and Him” He drew a dragonfly beside his name - a special significance of our divine love. One day he taped a card to the side door that said: Home is where our love grows! James wrote, “Welcome home baby, dinner is on me tonight.” Love, your husband. The stack of cards he shared with me are safely stored in a memory box and in my heart.

The white booklet had twelve cards James never got to give me.  A stirring to send them to the two men who married James and Sarah’s daughters grew stronger as I packed more treasures. So, I put five cards and a letter explaining why I was sending them in envelopes and sealed their letters with love.  I hope they will surprise their wives with love notes as James did for me.

 The two unsigned love notes have messages meant to make me smile when winter sets in and God stirs to stay focused on Him.  One reads “ I Love our Happy Place and I Do Love You.”  The sweetest - saddest unsigned card reads, “I’m happy you will grow old with me - the best is yet to be.”  

Though growing old together was cut short when Tim and James were called Home, my heart has not crusted with bitterness and blame. Winter could keep me (or anyone whose loved ones are not here to grow old with) frozen in a place where love cannot grow.  Trusting in God and believing in Heaven - where Tim and James are happy with Him - fuels my faith to be happy here writing love stories, caring for His children, giving help and hope to people in need, encouraging people to cherish close relationships with loved ones and Thee, and growing old with my big, happy family.